Prior to the collapse of Communism and the break-up of the Eastern-bloc empire of the U.S.S.R., a humorist and fledgling Kremlinologist was invited to tour the vast Red Landscape. Along the rails and roads traveled, he met a cast of colorful characters and faced a host of bizarre situations that only such a world can produce. These stories and essays portray a few of the fascinating, tragic, and whimsical things he discovered.